WHAT WAS CLAIMED
Voting machines made in Venezuela are used in Australian federal elections.
OUR VERDICT
False. Voting machines are not used in Australian federal elections.
AAP FACTCHECK - Venezuelan-made voting machines are not used in Australian federal elections, despite claims online.
Australian law does not permit the use of voting machines in federal elections, while those used in the ACT were developed by an Australian company.
The false claim is being shared online after the US conducted a military strike on Venezuela, capturing President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
The couple were flown out of the country and are being held in a New York jail after pleading not guilty to drug trafficking and weapons charges.
Following the strike, social media users revived unfounded claims that voting machines used in the 2020 US presidential election had been created or influenced by Venezuela to manipulate results in Joe Biden's favour
A Facebook post alleges that Venezuelan voting machines weren't only used in the US election.
"Voting machines used in Australia, UK, America and France.. Use Voting machines made in Venezuela, (look it up its an easy google search)[sic]," the post claims.
"Trump has ordered that manufacturer to hand over files for 10 years,,, vote tampering is not just America..
"Australia use them mainly in cities, and all of labours [sic] votes came from the cities on those machines.
"So look out, the big stuff is about to be uncovered, that's why albanese [sic] and the other democrats are going crazy."
This is false. Federal law does not allow voting machines in national elections, according to the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC).
The Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 would need to be changed to allow electronic voting at the federal level, according to the AEC website.
The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) is the only jurisdiction in Australia where voting machines are used in elections.
Each voter in the territory is provided with a unique e-voting card printed with a QR code, which is scanned at an electronic voting booth where a digital ballot paper can be filled in, according to the ACT Electoral Commission
The machines use software called eVACS, which is developed and owned by an Australian company called Software Improvements, according to the ACT government website.
There is no evidence that the machines or the software were "made in Venezuela".
Victoria did experiment with voting machines for voters with disabilities in 2006 and in 2010, using a system designed by US-based Hewlett-Packard for the Spanish firm Scytl, according to a Victorian Electoral Commission report (pages 6-7).
In 2014, the state offered the same voter groups a new electronic voting machine system called vVote, developed by the University of Surrey and the local Victorian not-for-profit Cryptoworkshop.
Again, there is no evidence that the voting machines or the software in Victoria were "made in Venezuela".
Fewer than 2300 votes were cast electronically across the three state elections.
Victorian voters use paper ballots only at polling stations as of 2025, according to the electoral commission.
Voting machines are not used in the UK either; voting is permitted only in person, by post, or by proxy, according to a government website.
Voting machines are not used in France either, but citizens living abroad can vote online for legislative and consular elections, but not for presidential, European, or referendums, according to the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs.
In the US, voting machines are used in a number of states.
The claim in the Facebook post follows unfounded allegations spread by Trump-aligned figures in 2020 that voting machines sold by Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic were influenced by or created in Venezuela and used to flip votes.
The false claims, which were originally pushed by Trump's lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, were the subject of defamation lawsuits filed by the companies.
Dominion has reached settlements totalling hundreds of millions of dollars following several defamation lawsuits, while Smartmatic has settled for tens of millions of dollars in some lawsuits, with others ongoing.
Dominion Voting Systems, founded in Canada in 2002, was renamed Liberty Voting after its 2025 sale to a US-based owner, according to a CNN report and court documents (page 11).
The founders of Smartmatic were born in Venezuela, but the company was incorporated in the US state of Delaware in 2000 and based in Florida. It is now a subsidiary of a Netherlands-based company, according to court documents (page 130).
AAP FactCheck has previously debunked claims that Dominion machines will be used in Australian federal elections.
AAP FactCheck is an accredited member of the International Fact-Checking Network. To keep up with our latest fact checks, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, BlueSky, TikTok and YouTube.
